


The Day the World Didn't Change

by RaaorQtpbpdy



Category: Ouran High School Host Club - All Media Types
Genre: Acceptance, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Awkward Kissing, Cute, Fate, Gay Ootori Kyouya, I Can't Believe I Wrote This, I Must Have Really Poor Impulse Control, Light Angst, Literal Sleeping Together, M/M, Non-Explicit, Not That I Didn't Already Know, Sibling Incest, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, light fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-02
Updated: 2020-11-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:13:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27342544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RaaorQtpbpdy/pseuds/RaaorQtpbpdy
Summary: On the morning of your sixteenth birthday, you may wake up to find the name of your soulmate written in blue on your left wrist. When you touch them, the name will turn red. When they die, the name will turn blue again. Not everyone gets a fate-appointed soulmate, but those who do are considered "the lucky half".It's generally believed that everyone has a soulmate, but if you get a mark on your wrist, it's because you'll need it. A lot of things are easier for soulmates than for regular couples.The Hitachiin twins stared at the floor as they walked down the hall from the host club. A lot of things were harder for soulmates as well, because fate is a cruel mistress.Fate doesn't always hand out happy endings, but she doesn't make mistakes.
Relationships: Hitachiin Hikaru/Hitachiin Kaoru
Comments: 10
Kudos: 119





	The Day the World Didn't Change

**Author's Note:**

> For the record, I don't actually ship this. No hate or anything, but I have a lot of siblings, so incest ships are high-key not my thing. Why did I write this then? you may be asking. The answer is I don't know. 
> 
> I somehow found myself looking through OHSHC fics and noticed that even though it was a pretty popular ship there weren't really any soulmate AUs, even though I thought it would make for a pretty compelling story and one thing led to another and now this exists.

On the morning of your sixteenth birthday, you may wake up to find the name of your soulmate written in blue on your left wrist. When you touch them, the name will turn red. When they die, the name will turn blue again. 

Fate doesn't make mistakes. Fate doesn't give you someone who will hate you, or someone who will hurt you. Fate doesn't make people soulmates that are incompatible, and it doesn't make people soulmates that won't be able to persevere. Not everyone gets a fate-appointed soulmate, only about fifty percent of any given population gets a name on their wrist, but those who do are considered "the lucky half", because they know that once they find their soulmate they'll be together for life, and they'll be happy. 

It's generally believed that everyone _has_ a soulmate, but the only people who get the names of their soulmates on their wrists are those who wouldn't be able to find their soulmate otherwise, or wouldn't know someone was their soulmate without the extra help. Sometimes only one out of the pair needs the help. Sometimes both do. Sometimes the names are more to prove their bond to others than to the soulmates themselves. 

Soulmates are always accepted by others. They have to be. Denying someone their soulmate is considered worse than taking their _life_ in most cultures. It's useless to go against fate, because fate doesn't make mistakes.

But fate is a cruel mistress. 

The host club started to figure that out when Kouya woke up on his sixteenth birthday with a name on his wrist. A foreign name. A male name. Fate is never wrong, but there were many stories of people being outed by the names on their wrists. Soulmates were accepted, but that didn't mean that everyone liked them, and Kyouya's father was utterly disgraced by the name that appeared on his youngest son. No one else in the Ootori family had gotten a name, but getting a name that no one liked was arguably worse. If there had been any chance of Kyouya inheriting, that chance disappeared completely, and that blue name took its place. 

They would accept it if it came to be, they would have to, but Kyouya's father made it no secret that he hoped his son would never meet his soulmate. That way he could marry a nice girl and they could all forget the nonsense that was Jean-Raphael Dupont, whoever that was. Kyouya had no intention of marrying any kind of girl, one way or the other, but there was no use telling his father that. 

Fate doesn't make mistakes, but unlike the humans she presides over, she has no regard whatsoever for what society thinks of her choices. 

The ruckus of Kyouya's soulmate died down eventually. He took to covering the name with makeup most of the time. His family didn't like seeing it, and though the host club made it clear that they supported him no matter what, Kyouya wasn't keen on the idea of their _guests_ uncovering his situation. 

Everything went back to normal for a while. The next upset was caused by Haruhi's appearance, and the name on Kyouya's wrist was all but forgotten, even after she seamlessly inserted herself into all of their lives. Soulmates weren't much of a talking point among the host club members. That is, until the twins turned sixteen. 

Neither Hikaru nor Kaoru had expected to get names on their wrists. They thought they'd end up pretty normal, maybe find someone they liked when they got to college or something, so there was no need for fate to give them a push toward the person they were going to be with forever. 

On the morning of their sixteenth birthday, they woke up in the same bed, as always. A maid knocked on their door before entering and telling them it was time to get ready for school. Hikaru sat up first with a yawn and stretched his arms out as Kaoru propped himself up on his elbows to rub the sleep out of his eyes. 

The maid put their freshly pressed uniforms on the table, then turned to them to bow before leaving. She did neither, however. She squawked with surprise the moment she caught sight of Hikaru's wrist and clapped her hand over her mouth. 

"Hey, what is it?" Kaoru groaned, cringing at the harsh sound she'd made. 

The maid caught sight of Kaoru's wrist and her eyes widened to the size of saucers. "Young masters, your wrists!" 

"What?" they asked in unison, and looked at their wrists. As soon as they saw the names there, staring back at them, crimson like fresh blood, their eyes widened too.

"I—I—I'll be going," the maid stammered, and bowed quicker and more shallowly than she usually did before leaving the room as fast as she could. 

"Hikaru," Kaoru said, still staring at the name on his wrist with dawning horror.

"Kaoru," Hikaru responded, bringing his left wrist closer as if looking at it from a different distance would change what was written there. 

Neither said anything more for a long while. They couldn't form a coherent sentence between them, but they didn't really need to because the thoughts going through their heads were as identical as they were. 

_How could this happen? What do we do? What will people think when they find out my brother's name is the one that appeared on my wrist? What will our parents think?_

"Hikaru." _How do we tell people about this? What happens if they hate us?_

"Kaoru." _There's no chance that maid kept this to herself. We'll be getting a call from mom any minute._

"We should get dressed for school." _What else can we do? I don't want to be home when mom flies back from Milan to freak out on us._

"Yeah, we have a test today, and club after school." _The host club will be cool with this, right? Cooler than dad will, at least. They were fine with Kyouya._

"Yeah." _But Kyouya's soulmate wasn't his brother._

The one thought mysteriously absent was: _I don't want him to be my soulmate._

A call came from their mother as they were getting dressed, but they ignored it. They didn't want to talk about anything just yet. They weren't sure they could manage it. They ignored her second call as well. She didn't call a third time. 

Getting to school was a breath of fresh air for all of the two minutes it took for them to reach their classroom. Haruhi was already there, and she smiled at them as they walked in the door. Then she said the one thing they least wanted to hear, and more importantly, the last thing they wanted anyone else to hear. 

"Morning guys, happy birthday!" 

They smiled at her anyway and said, "thanks!" and when a handful of girls from their class squealed and came up to talk to them, the twins plastered on easy-looking grins and lied through their teeth, arms slung casually over each other's shoulders, but in their minds they were holding on for dear life. 

They were more withdrawn than usual, almost like they were back in middle school. They kept to themselves and didn't talk about the situation that had arisen that morning, though it lingered around them, the proverbial elephant in the room. All through the school day, no one could get more than a fake smile and a few brief words out of them, not even Haruhi. 

It felt like forever to the pair of them before school ended, and when it finally did, they took a more roundabout path to the host club to avoid running into anyone. Because of the path they'd taken, they were the last to the club room. The entire host club was already there, and a grand cake was perched atop the twins' usual table. 

"Hika-chan! Kao-chan!" Honey squealed as soon as they entered. "Happy birthday! We got you a cake!" Mori nodded, and Haruhi was grinning at them too.

"Sixteen is a big milestone," she congratulated cheerfully. 

"Yes, happy birthday you two," Kyouya said, even deigning to look up from his black book. 

"Happy happy birthday!" Tamaki enthused, rushing up to them and twirling between to wrap his arms around their necks affectionately. "Did either of you get to be part of the lucky half?" Of course the names would be the first thing Tamaki asked about. 

Hikaru and Kaoru looked at each other over Tamaki's head, and they knew they were both thinking the same thing. They reached down and pulled up their sleeves to show their club prince the situation that had loomed over them since that morning. 

"Huh? They're red already," Tamaki said curiously. He clearly didn't actually read the names. "How lucky! You've both already met your soulmates!" 

"I don't know if I'd call it lucky," Kaoru said, eyes fixed on the ground. 

"What do you mean?" Tamaki asked. "Do you not like the people fate pointed out to you? I'm sure you'll grow to."

"Read the damn names, Tamaki," Hikaru snapped. "Not liking them isn't the problem." 

Tamaki blinked owlishly at them, and bent over to read the name on Hikaru's wrist. "Hm?" He read the one on Kaoru's wrist. "I don't get it. Those are just your names."

"What did you just say, Tamaki?" Kyouya asked. 

"They got their own names," Tamaki said. "Is this some kind of self-love situation? Can that happen?" 

"No you idiot," Hikaru snarled. "We didn't get our _own_ names—"

"We got each other's names," Kaoru finished for him weakly. 

"Huh?" Honey cocked his head to the side. "I didn't know that could happen, but no wonder you seem a bit weird today. You should have some cake. That'll make you feel better!" A moment later, he bounded toward the twins with a plate of cake in each hand.

"Thanks Honey-senpai, but I don't think cake is going to fix this," Hikaru said, his momentary anger draining from him. Honey forced the cake into their hands anyway, assuring them that it couldn't hurt.

"I've never heard of anything like this happening either," Kyouya said. Everyone was taking this much more calmly than the twins had expected, but then again, it might have been shock. "If you'd like, I can do some research." 

They nodded as Tamaki walked them over to the nearest couch. Kaoru took a bite of his cake and Hikaru followed. Haruhi sat across from them and stole a glance at their still-exposed wrists. 

"Does this mean that your whole 'forbidden brotherly love' thing wasn't an act?" she asked.

"No, of course it was," they said in unison, both a little more defensive than usual, taken aback that that was her first question.

"Can we even call if forbidden if they're soulmates now?" Tamaki wondered aloud. "Aren't soulmates always supposed to be accepted? I mean you can't go against fate, can you?" 

"They're still brothers," Kyouya pointed out. "I can't say this scenario comes as a _complete_ shock, but soulmates or not, incest is generally frowned upon. I of all people know that just because it's fate's decision, there's no guarantee that people will approve of it." 

"You 'of all people'?" Haruhi asked. 

"Oh, that's right," Honey chimed in. "You weren't part of the host club when Kyou-chan got his soulmate mark." 

"I didn't know he even had one," Haruhi said. "I've never seen one, and I've seen all of you half naked at the beach." 

"I wear opaque waterproof foundation over it to keep it hidden," Kyouya said. "It doesn't do to romance ladies with a gentleman's name on one's wrist."

"I see," Haruhi said. "So that's what you meant about people not approving. I guess your family didn't take it too well?" 

"Correct," Kyouya said, adjusting his glasses. "You seem to be taking all this in stride, though, Haruhi." 

"My parents were soulmates," Haruhi shrugged, "so I guess I grew up putting my trust in this kind of thing. My mom died when she was still pretty young, so if it weren't for the names on their wrists, my parents might not have gotten together before she got sick, and I would never have been born. Dad says if you get a mark on your wrist it's because you'll need it." 

"If that's the case, then I suppose it makes sense that if the twins are soulmates they'd get marks," Tamaki said thoughtfully. "I mean if you didn't get them you probably never would have guessed, right?"

"It would have been better that way," Hikaru muttered bitterly, barely loud enough for anyone to hear. 

"No," Mori said, and both twins looked up to him in surprise. 

"No?" they echoed, confused.

"Fate doesn't make mistakes," Mori clarified simply. That was a common saying when it came to soulmates. It was used in so many romance movies and even more often in books. It was quoted in every class about soulmates. _Fate doesn't always hand out happy endings, but she never makes mistakes._

"He's right," Haruhi said. "I asked my dad once, if he thought it would have been better if he hadn't met my mom, because then he wouldn't have had to watch his soulmate die. He said he'd never once thought that, because the happiness of the few years he had with her far outweighed the sadness that her death brought. 

"No matter how close you are now, if you hadn't gotten these marks, you'd probably drift apart over time, and it would make you miserable and lonely. Even if you didn't drift apart, you'd always feel like something was missing in your relationship, and that would make you miserable too."

"Let me ask you something," Tamaki said. "You're worried about what others will think. You think it would have been better if fate hadn't clued you in. Maybe you're even afraid of how certain people will react. But, are either of you really _unhappy_ about this? Perhaps you wish, for any number of reasons, that your soulmate was anyone else, but can you honestly say that having each other's names upsets you personally?" 

All day, they'd been clinging to each other because they couldn't let anyone else know what was bothering them, but for the first time since they'd seen the red characters, they couldn't bring themselves to look at each other. 

"You can both be excused from club activities for the day," Tamaki declared, his tone and demeanor leaving no room for argument. "Take this time to think things over."

Nodding and standing up, the twins left the abandoned music room, but they didn't want to go home just yet. Someone would be there. They just knew it. Someone who would tell them their fate was unseemly and they had to hide like Kyouya hid. Someone who would tear them apart to prevent their relationship from becoming inappropriate. Someone who would warn them not to go too far, because the law was not on their side. 

In Japan, exceptions were made for soulmates all the time. Same-sex marriage was only legal between soulmates. Underage marriage was legal between soulmates too, as long as all parties were consenting. Adoptions were easier for soulmates, as were a lot of other things. The Hitachiin twins stared at the floor as they walked down the hall from the host club. A lot of things were harder for soulmates as well. No matter how many exceptions were made, at the end of the day laws were laws. 

Kaoru let out a frustrated groan that bounced off the walls of the long corridor. He grabbed his brother's wrist and dragged him into the nearest empty classroom, locking the door behind them, stopping only when they reached the classroom's farthest corner. Finally he turned and looked Hikaru dead in the eyes, staring for a long moment. 

"We have to talk about this, Hikaru." 

"We do."

"Sometimes soulmates are platonic," Kaoru said, tone hopeful, even though somehow he _knew_ that it wasn't the case for them. Hikaru shook his head. The feeling was mutual. 

"Kaoru, have you . . . thought about us?" Hikaru asked hesitantly. "Romantically I mean?" 

Kaoru couldn't help averting his eyes as he nodded. "With dozens of girls swooning over that thought every day, how could I not? But seriously?" 

"Never seriously," Hikaru agreed. "I'm the same I guess. Does it . . . I don't know . . ."

"Does it disgust you?" Kaoru asked for him. "It doesn't for me. I don't know if I'd say I _wanted_ something like that but . . . I mean I never would have initiated it but . . . I guess I was never really opposed to the idea."

"If the girls had somehow talked us into actually kissing, I wouldn't have shied away," Hikaru admitted. "I definitely never thought something like _this_ could happen though, not in a million years."

"Yeah . . ." 

"Should we . . ."

"Try it?" Kaoru looked back into his brother's amber eyes which met his own with equal uncertainly. They swallowed hard, searching each other for signs of anger or unwillingness or disgust, but finding none. 

Kaoru leaned forward, ever so slightly. Hikaru nodded, almost imperceptibly. Every movement was as small as it possibly could be, every breath as shallow, as quiet. The moment was charged with tension, and if either of them pulled too hard it would snap, and everything that rested on it would come tumbling down. They closed their eyes a moment before impact. 

For all their acting, and all their bravado, the Hitachiin twins had never kissed before, not once. They hadn't kissed anyone before, but certainly not each other. There was a line that neither wanted to cross. A line between exaggerated brotherly love, played up to please the crowd, and actual, unforgivable sin. When they crossed that line, however, it didn't feel like a sin. It felt soft, and warm, and brief. The world didn't change. Their lives didn't end. The floor didn't open up to swallow them and drag them into hell. 

They opened their eyes, still so close to each other they could count their eyelashes. They blinked at each other, wondering what had just happened, and why it was such a big deal. They felt smiles trying to force their way onto their lips, real, genuine smiles. Smiles they didn't think they'd be able to manage for a while after what had transpired that day. 

Kaoru snorted, hands finding their way to Hikaru's lapels, face falling forward onto his brother's chest as his shoulders shook with giggles. Hikaru threw his head back and laughed out loud. He slid down the wall, sighing with laughter, and Kaoru followed in a fit. Legs tangled together on the classroom floor, draped over and under each other as the pair of them wheezed and snickered, gasping for breath. 

When they finally managed to calm themselves, they looked down and noticed that they'd somehow ended up holding hands, leaning towards each other like there were strings connecting them, tugging and pulling, slackening sometimes, and tightening others, but never breaking, no matter how much tension they were under, no matter how much stress. 

"That wasn't so bad," Kaoru managed to say, fighting to get his wild grin a little bit more under control. 

"Not bad at all," Hikaru agreed, making no such effort as he flashed his pearly teeth. There was something ever so slightly different shining behind his eyes as he looked at his brother, softer maybe, or maybe warmer, maybe both, or maybe something else entirely, but whatever it was, Kaoru liked it immediately. He liked how it made him feel, and he was sure the same thing was mirrored in his eyes as well. They were identical, after all. 

Hikaru's free hand reached up to Kaoru's head, fingers brushing through his hair, and he pulled his brother closer, closer, until their lips met again less briefly, less softly, but more warmly. Kaoru's hand tightened around his, and their lips moved clumsily, and kissing wasn't all that easy when neither of them could stop smiling even if they tried. Hikaru tried opening their mouths, but it was awkward and sent Kaoru into another laughing fit with his brother following close behind. 

They could take this slow. Despite all past appearances, this was new to them too. There was no rush, no need to cross all the boundaries right away. 

"I don't wanna be a downer," Hikaru said once the laughter had subsided once more, "but we're still gonna have to talk to mom and dad, and I'm pretty sure they won't be as cool with this as the host club was." 

"We can take 'em," Kaoru said, still a little hysterical. "If not, we can phone Honey-senpai, right. Maybe I'm just a little light-headed from laughing, but I feel like it'll all turn out okay somehow." 

"Feel like I could take on the world," Hikaru agreed. 

"That didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would." Kaoru leaned on his brother's shoulder with a blissful sigh. "Do we head home early?"

"Nah, no reason we can't just rest here for a while," Hikaru responded, resting his cheek on Kaoru's hair. "No one's expecting us home until club activities are over anyway, so the car won't be coming to pick us up for an hour or so."

"You know what, resting here for a while sounds nice," Kaoru nodded lazily. "But resting on a spare couch in the club room sounds better. My butt's getting numb sitting on this hardwood floor." 

"Yeah same." 

Kaoru chuckled and untangled their legs to stand up before offering a hand to his brother. They didn't release each other's hands once they were both back on their feet, didn't even think about it. 

**Author's Note:**

> Please tell me if there's something I should tag but didn't, especially squicks or triggers I may have missed. I've never written this kind of thing before, so I may have missed something. Please do not comment anything gross, especially regarding sibling incest as a whole. Comments are appreciated, just use proper judgement. 
> 
> I may post another chapter if my poor impulse control strikes again, because I do have a couple more ideas for this AU, but I also might not because . . . I might not. Love y'all.
> 
> <3 Raaor!


End file.
